The National Meat Association is considered “the voice” of the factory farming industry across the country. “Listen to factory farmers defend themselves and you would think they see the animals they raise and kill as their beloved family pets,” writes Carter Dillard of The Animal Legal Defense Fund. But at the same time they pitch their “humane” PR spin, their lawyers are in court asking the Supreme Court to strike down a California law that requires exactly the sort of basic humane treatment for farmed animals that factory farmers claim to want. The law bans the sale, transport, or purchase of sick and disabled “downer” animals who are so weak they are unable to walk.

“One can wonder why the Obama administration is so beholden to the factory farm lobby that it is willing to get behind the abuse of sick and downed animals,” writes Dillard. The ALDF is opposing the NMA before the Court, arguing that the California state law should be upheld and the federal law which sides with the factory farming lobby should not overrule the state’s law.